We're Not Kids Anymore
by Ipizzippy
Summary: Remember in Kindergarten, when you just share your toys with someone and suddenly your best friends? And when you fight, you just say sorry and you're holding hands again the next minute. It's not like that when your older. A cut can't be kissed away by mom anymore. Hearts break. Scars remain.


**A/N: **Rugrats was my childhood, and I'm kind of sad that their story never got the closure that it needed. So I'm making one for it. Every chapter's going to be in a different person's POV. I'm not gonna go into full detail about everything because there will be futures chapters for flashbacks in full narration. Anyway, enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Rugrats and All Grown Up in no way belong to me.

**KIMI – September 2012**

The fifth time Chuckie banged on the bathroom door, Kimi knew his threats of "I'm gonna break this door down" were getting serious. Oops. It's Chuck now. He'd stopped being Chucky since they entered high school. Anyway, it's not like they were gonna be late for school. She woke up two hours before everyone else to get ready. He still had plenty of time to shower, get dressed and then have breakfast before they have to get in the car. She deserved to look nice. It was the first day of junior year, for goodness' sake.

Junior year. Wow. It seemed like just yesterday when she first stepped into high school, and started hanging out with a new group of friends. Yup, a new group of friends. Cheerleaders and jocks, to be exact. It was kind of inevitable. Summer after middle school, she went off to this athletics camp, made friends there, and when she got to school, she hung out with the friends she made there. She was still friends with everyone she grew up with, Lil was still her best friend but she's on the soccer team now – one of four girls who were put on the boys' soccer team, there weren't enough girls to establish a girls' team – and with classes and training for both of them, they only get to talk to each other during lunch and after school on the phone. Lilly was still the first person Kimi would go to for anything. Tommy and Phil? Kimi liked to think that they were still friends, but after middle school, it's just not the same. They're civil to her, because she's Chuck's sister and they spend a lot of time at her house but that's it. She didn't think they'd consider them close anymore.

See, in the start of 8th grade, Phil had asked Kimi out and for some reason, she accepted. They saw a movie, had dinner, went to the arcade, and then had ice cream. Surprisingly, they both had a good time. They even kissed when Phil brought her home. After all those years of fighting and blaming each other for everything, Kimi actually liked Phil, and vice-versa. Lil said she saw it coming. Apparently, there had to be a reason why they couldn't stand each other for the past nine years of their lives. In other words, she was thrilled that her best friend and her brother were together. They did regular boyfriend-girlfriend stuff for the next few months. They went on dates, attended school events together, and partnered up for the same classes that they had, and then December came.

Kimi was excited to have her first Christmas with a boyfriend. She even got him a really good present. It was a limited edition cover of his favorite comic book that she had to order online and spend two months of her Java Lava paychecks on. That and a watch. He broke his old one after almost getting caught by her dad while they were making out in her room. He ducked out of her window and into the tree in the backyard then proceeded to drop ungracefully to the ground. His wrist broke the fall. And he broke his watch in the process. Phil had to wear a cast for the next four weeks. But he said the adrenaline rush was worth it. She had no idea what Phil was gonna get her for the holiday, but it didn't matter. When Christmas break rolled in, the DeVilles went out of town to visit Betty's family in Kansas. If you can call, her mother's second cousins' godson's parents, family. Kimi gave her present in advance and despite costing her a lot of money, the look on Phil's face made everything worth it. Phil said he'll give Kimi her present when he got back before New Year's, which she didn't mind. Christmas eve came, then Christmas and as per tradition, she and Chucky went over to Tommy's to stay up all night watching A Christmas Carol, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Wonderful Life, Home Alone and their all-time favorite, The Nightmare Before Christmas. They did it every year, the movies in that order, and even without the twins, the tradition still held. They've never really finished the entire line-up. Ever. At least not all of them at the same time. Every year, since they were 8, at least three of them fell asleep by the time they got halfway through A Wonderful Life. It was always Chuckie first and only Tommy never slept through all of them. Maybe it's because of his love for film and whatnot, but every year, he'd be the only one to stay awake until Jack and Sally meet on top of that curved rock. And then he'd spend Dec. 26 asleep until early in the afternoon when they woke him up to hangout in the tree fort.

That Christmas in 8th grade, Kimi stayed up with Tommy. But they didn't watch the movies. They went out to the tree fort, despite the freezing weather. They talked, a lot, about anything and everything. Then Tommy opened up that he'd liked Kimi for the longest time and never really had the guts to tell her. Well, that and Chuck's one of his best friends and the last time he thought they liked each other, he freaked out and ended their friendship. Kimi could still remember the exact words he'd said. "I get that you're dating Phil now, but I want you to know that I think you're awesome and beautiful, and he's really lucky to have you." Until now, Kimi doesn't know what came over her, but she kissed him there up on the tree fort. Actually, it was more than a kiss. They ended up making out, until Kimi's phone rang and it was Phil who was calling her to say goodnight. She went back inside the house and avoided Tommy until a few hours later in the morning when they argued about the kiss. After breakfast, they went out front and "talked". It went something like this –

Kimi: "How could you do this to me?"

Tommy: "How could _I_ do this? You're the one who kissed me!"

Kimi: "Well, you kissed me back! And you're the one who said those beautiful things to me."

Tommy: "It doesn't matter. We can just pretend it never happened. It's not like you like that way!"

Then Kimi realized that her little childhood crush on Tommy never really went away, she's always liked him. And why shouldn't she? He was smart, good-looking, and he had a really good heart to go with it and she felt like crap because she was Phil's girlfriend, and she really liked Phil, but apparently, not as much as she's always liked Tommy.

"Right?" Tommy asked again. Kimi felt awful but she knew what she had to do when Phil returned from Kansas. And as fate would have it, a car rolled in to the driveway of the house next door. She never got to answer Tommy's question because Lil stepped out of the car and waved to them. Phil followed right after, and with him came Kimi's Christmas present, a yellow Labrador puppy with a giant red bow around his neck. Phil carried the puppy over and dropped him into Kimi's arms. He had the most beautiful brown sad eyes and she fell in love with him instantly.

"Merry Christmas, Kimi." Phil kissed Kimi on the forehead then rubbed scratched the puppy behind the ears. "He doesn't have a name yet but I do have suggestions if you wanna hear them." While Phil rambled on with puppy names – which included Pig; Bullet; Sir Farts-A-Lot because the puppy farted numerous times in the car; and Captain Pepper because apparently, the puppy's mom choked to death after eating a jalapeno pepper – Kimi realized that Tommy had vanished inside the house leaving her alone with her boyfriend. Yes, Phil was still her boyfriend. Earlier, she thought she knew what she had to do. Nope, she did _not_ know what to do. She had absolutely no idea. "Oh, I almost forgot. There's a part two to your present." Phil handed her a red envelope. He took the puppy from Kimi while she opened her next present. Inside was a plain white card with three simple words written on it, "I LOVE YOU." He's never said that before. When she looked back at Phil he was just looking at her expectantly, and without even meaning to, she said, "Me too."

They were inseparable for the remainder of the holiday, along with Rifle – that was the name they agreed on. Phil promised to help take care of him, take him on walks, and for check-ups if needed. Tommy avoided both of them, which was amazing because he lives right next door to Phil, and they're best friends, but according to Phil, Tommy claimed to be busy with this project and that other project and that he'd make it up to them some other time.

All the while, Phil had been nothing but the perfect boyfriend. He showered Kimi with affection and gifts and made Kimi feel even worse about what happened between her and Tommy. She felt like she didn't deserve someone like Phil after what she'd done. It wasn't like she could talk to Lil about it, she's Phil's sister, and there's no way she can tell Chuckie about it either. He's best friends with Tommy, so really the only she could talk to was Rifle, and it's not like he could give any advice about this. The guilt kept eating away at her insides, Kimi was afraid that soon there'd be nothing left of it. That's not even the worst part. Whenever Phil came over to hang out, and he'd be talking to Rifle, he'd refer to Kimi as 'mommy' which made him 'daddy' which made them parents to that adorable dog which made Kimi scream in frustration because she really did not deserve him.

Around the end of January, Kimi told Phil the truth, and he took it surprisingly well. At least, that's what she thought until she heard from some of the guys in her History class that Phil and Tommy got into a fist fight in the locker room. Phil broke up with her later that day, after breaking up with Tommy first. And if that didn't make her bawl her eyes out, Lil broke up with her too.

The next few months were the most miserable in her life. Even their parents noticed the change in their kids. The twins kept to themselves, Kimi and Tommy tolerated each other, and Chuckie was caught in the crossfire. Kimi knew it was her fault, and it had to be her to fix things, so she did. It took a lot of convincing and fighting and screaming and maybe crying – but they'd never admit that – but she got Phil and Tommy back together as friends. You know how boys are, once they patch things up, it's like they never fought in the first place. It was Lil who took the longest time to forgive her but she did eventually, and the trust took the longest to get back, but it was worth it. Lil was Kimi's go-to person and she could never be without her best friend.

Tommy and Phil chose their friendship Kimi, which is how they were able to get passed that. They promised that one day, they'd all be able to go back to how they used to be as kids, but that day has yet to come. The only reason she still got to see those two was because they hung around Chuckie a lot. But this year was Chuckie's last, and by next year, he'd be off probably halfway across the country and the awkward, civil, slightly fake relationship she's established with both Tommy and Phil will finally cease to exist.

"Kimi, I swear, if you don't get out of the bathroom this instant, so help me, I will-"

The door swung open and out came Kimi all dressed and made-up for school. "All yours, Chuck."

"Finally! What do you in here that it takes you forever to finish?"

"I'm a girl." Kimi defended.

"Yeah, I'm glad we established that. Now get out." Chuck shoved Kimi out of the way and slammed the door in her face.

Sighing loudly, she made her to way to her bedroom to get her stuff. She had at least 30 minutes before her brother starts honking the car horn at her to hurry. Honestly, he's been really short with everyone lately. Ever since they got back from their summer in Europe. Maybe because he misses that mystery girl that Kimi's pretty sure he still e-mails often. Whatever. At least Chuck finally found someone who can put up with his nerdiness. She shoved all of her books in her backpack, grabbed her cheerleader uniform and stuffed it in along with her books then made her way to the kitchen for breakfast.

**A/N: **Next chapter, Tommy's POV. Reviews are much appreciated. Ta-ta for now.


End file.
